VAC Owners:Outboard Phono Stage?

Bill,
I believe you and others who have experienced the same, even Jeff I think it was, who reviewed the Steelhead for 6 Moons and said the same: going direct did not sound as good! I don't understand how can the VAC pre being in the signal path sound better than not having it there and going direct? Is the VAC adding a pleasant coloration to the overall sound, or is it just Kevin's quiet magic? Your thoughts?

JFrech,
I know some very high end phono stages are quietly using SUTs (why they went out of favor in the industry I don't know). I looked at the very reasonable K&K, all the way to the Audio Note S8, a tiny box of silver wire for $10,000. But I still have not heard any of them in a system.

Podeschi, JWM, Almarg,
Nagra, EAR, Aesthetix, Coincident... added to the research list. Thanks. The way this process seems to be doing the opposite of shortening my list, I'll probably by able to make my decision at THE Show in Newport Beach in June. Maybe Kevin will surprise us there with a debut phono stage he's been secretly building! (I can dream, can't I?)

Coincidentally, today I received two new phono tubes tested by Brent. I'll report back soon.

Thank you all for your input. I've got a lot to work with, but I'm certainly open to more.

Alonski,
Eager to hear how things progress with your journey...fun to read about your impressions and comparisons!

Well, to use the Steelhead as a linestage through its variable outputs sends the signal through additional internal circuitry, volume control, a series of other switches, and different outputs. So it's not as direct as you might think. And it does not add gain, according to the manual, so that's quite different than running the phono stage through fixed outputs into a preamp that provides pure class A gain executed to an extremely high standard. The VAC does not add coloration, at least I don't hear any in mine; it's very neutral. But it does provide far more body and dimensionality, power and extension to the sound, filling out soundstage in all directions. The sound blooms. My first impression upon hearing the VAC was that a light had been turned on inside the music, illuminating it from within like a magic lantern, casting the illusion of live music into the room. That was going from the Steelhead as a line stage--which was quite good itself. The VAC is just better than the Steelhead as a linestage in all the ways you look for, so much better that an additional set of good ICs doesn't reduce the performance gap.

Totally agree with wrm57's comments about vac linestage causing music to be lit within and increasing soundstage in all directions..more body and dimensionality. Perfect description. Plus it delivers alot of resolution but detail from the inside-out (lit within) so it isnt analytical resolution but harmonic detail.

I vote that we honor Bill (Wrm57) with an Audiophile Eloquence Award for perfectly and concisely describing what we all love about our VAC gear. It just doesn't get better than "illuminating music from within." I'm going to send that over to Kevin and suggest he uses it as a tagline!

So, Bill... thanks for the explanation about what "direct to amps" really means. It seems clear and obvious (well, now) that "direct" is not possible because with any outboard or built in phono stage, one would need a volume control and additional circuitry to control the downstream amp, in essence, you need a line stage for this to work – whether it's part of the Steelhead or VAC is irrelevant. Did I understand you correctly (please correct me if I haven't)?

So, I'll risk continuing (if I misunderstood, my foot's already in my mouth, a little deeper won't be too bad): Since this would be exactly like getting ANY outboard phono stage and utilizing my current line stage, I can go back to my original focus on simple phono stages like the Zesto, Herron and Chinook, hook the winner up to my beloved VAC's line stage, and I'm good to go!